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Hold On, Is The iPad Really Impacting Notebook Sales?

Last Friday I wrote a post based on information widely published on several other blogs that Best Buy was seeing the iPad having a signficant impact on notebook computer sales. The information was based on a Wall Street Journal article in which Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy, said he was misquoted and what he meant was grossly exaggerated. MSNBC has a follow up article that cites information provided by NPD that claims iPad sales are not the reason for lower notebook sales, rather it has to do with consumer reaction to lack of price deals on notebook computers.

Fast Company also has an article about the iPad’s impact on notebook sales with statistics provided by Morgan Stanley, in which Morgan Stanley says the lower notebook sales are due to tablet cannibalization. Fast Company takes a closer look at the year over year sales figures and points out that while the statistics may show that one month’s sales are better or worse the sales in that month a year ago, you need to also look at the data for sales two years ago to determine whether there is a trend. While it is reasonable to expect that the iPad is having an impact on notebook sales, we don’t yet have enough data to prove it.